When Life Begins Anew
by The Best of Luck
Summary: Years after the defeat of the Enclave, the Brotherhood of Steel and the Capital Wasteland are expanding. With Elder Sarah Lyons taking the bulk of the Brotherhood north to face an unseen threat, a spaceship ambushed by pirates crashes near Big Town. With these developments, the discovery of a new species, and the threat of war, the Council must tread carefully.
1. Beginnings

" _Our sun is one of 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of billions of galaxies populating the universe. It would be the height of presumption to think that we are the only living things in that enormous immensity._ "

-Werhner von Braun

The sun was setting in the east. A dust storm was coming and the inhabitants of the small town of Big Town (paradox if there ever was one) started to hunker down for the night. They were all from Little Lamplight, a piece of shit town where they grew up on fungus. Longshot hated the damn place, both Big Town and Little Lamplight, but they were the only people he ever knew and he would be damned if he was going to go somewhere else. But as he paced his room in the small town, he had to acknowledge something.

The town was dying.

Big Town had been doing rather well; the walled settlement had been expanding. Trade was going well and people were coming to the town were coming in. Longshot had grown up scavenging with the Little Lamplight scavengers and had gained the name Longshot because of his expertise with a hunting rifle. When he had arrived, he started to working the shifts with Dusty, a former security guard from Rivet City. Everything had been going well.

And then people started being taken by slavers and super mutants again. The outside buildings which had been inhabited since the town started to expand were being attacked with a force not seen in years. Longshot had lost people who had been with them for years. Fifteen people out of one hundred were gone and people were _scared._ Two dozen people had signed up to watch over each night. Minefields were reinforced, the robots reinforced as well, along with ensuring there was only one path to town.

Longshot took a seat into a couch that had been torn apart by bullets. Tiny bullet holes were everywhere. The couch wasn't very comfortable, but then again, nothing was comfortable in Big Town. The young man sighed as he started to clean his hunting rifle, the beauty that had kept him alive for the last six years. He had nicknamed it _Longshot_ because well damn it, he wasn't creative and he didn't need to be. Using an oiled cloth, he started to disassemble the damn thing and cleaning it one part at a time.

It was just around eight when he heard a knock on his door. The small cramped house he lived in was home to four people including himself. Setting aside his now cleaned rifle, he got up and went to open it. The dust storm was starting to calm down, though gusts of wind were still tearing into the walls of the settlement. Bracing himself for the wind, Longshot was next to the door, opening it. Outside was Flash, one of the older residents of Big Town. The moon was shining in full force after the dust storm and filtered into the living room.

"Longshot, we got a pack of super mutants heading east of the town. Dusty said at least six lead by a nasty Overlord. I've got Big Mouth and Shoulders with me, armoring up. Stinky's got them in his sights and he's been keeping an eye on them. Moon's out tonight. We'll trail them and see where they're headed. You want in?" Flash asked. Longshot nodded, feeling oddly relieved. For what it was worth, he was going to do _something._ Having been on guard, going back on the trail was going to be...well _interesting._

"Yeah Flash. Let me just get _Longshot_ and my armor."

Flash nodded his acknowledgement and left. Longshot grabbed the rifle. Checking it and undoing the bolt, he heard the smooth click of it sliding back into place. Satisfied with it, Longshot reached onto the desk that was snagged right in the corner of the room and grabbed the rifle scope lying on top of the rotten wood. Inserting it onto the rifle, he went towards his room which he shared with another Little Lamplight emigrant by the name of Kid. His leather armor was strewn across a deserted wooden chair, carelessly taken off when he had gotten home from his guard shift.

The long sleeved black leather jacket had been augmented with football pads reinforced with strong hard leather. Knee pads he strapped across his black pants and the young dark skinned man wrapped a bandanna around his neck. Goggles were then worn around his neck, ready for any dust storm. Grinning as he saw himself in the broken mirror, his brown skin disappearing behind black leather, he got out of his room. Flash was there, now armored in his own leather armor, while Big Mouth and Shoulders were standing in the living room as well.

Shoulders was known as Shoulders because he was massive. But his shoulders were bigger than everyone there so he was stuck with the nickname Shoulders. Standing at around six foot five, weighing two hundred and eighteen pounds, he carried a combat shotgun he nicknamed _Terribly Terrible_ along with a sledgehammer. His blonde hair was tied in a tight ponytail and his emerald eyes shone in the darkness. He was encased head to toe in leather armor as well, built for him by the town's mechanic and local handyman, Gears.

Big Mouth was famous for his mouth. Known as the _Mayor_ back in Little Lamplight, he had been hit by the nickname when he had badmouthed the _actual_ mayor of Big Town. He had been smacked on the ground by Longshot and Shoulders when had done so and had been labeled a Big Mouth by the ever so imaginative Stinky (who later confessed that this was his version of revenge after being forced out of Little Lamplight). Grown now, he handled a Chinese assault rifle, magazines slung across his leather armor. His baby blue eyes stared into Longshot, still sore after receiving the beating, but was a good guard and a better diplomat. He had been the one to represent Big Town in the meetings at Rivet City when Red couldn't make it.

"So what's the big deal again? Fucking mutants starting to come out their own haunts?" Big Mouth asked, his tendency to swear kicking in.

"Super mutants. At least six lead by an Overlord. Stinky's keeping an eye on them right now. Heading east near the old trainyard. Three of them are the regulars and the rest are brutes. We trail them, make sure they don't get near the town and then radio their location to the Brotherhood. We don't have the firepower to deal with them and the Brotherhood outpost in Arefu needs to be warned anyway. So we'll keep an eye out and trail them. That's it."

"Got it boss," Shoulders simply said, cleaning his own shotgun. The 12 gauge shells could rip apart any mutant at close range, but there was only one giant hulking human and more than five hulking super mutants.

"Alright good. We'll split into three groups. Shoulders and Big Mouth will take the rear and make sure we don't get surprised. Once we link up with Stinky, me and him are going to stick the closest. And Longshot will keep an eye on everyone."

Flash's plan made sense. Shoulders and Big Mouth weren't stealth warriors by any stretch of the imagination, but they were great at killing shit. Longshot, being nicknamed freaking _Longshot,_ was the best at keeping his distance and making sure no one got shiskabobbed by anybody. Stinky, despite being a terrible storyteller, was actually decent at sneaking around and Flash, being the main man in charge of scouting and scavenging, was a much different man than what Longshot had heard from. Thanks to the Lone Wanderer.

They headed out of town, crossing the bridge where Dusty was sitting in the seat with his own assault rifle. Robots were patrolling the outside and the minefield placed outside set up by Timebomb spread across only allowed for a single point of access to the town. Timebomb had begrudgingly put CAUTION MINEFIELD signs after two merchants almost lost their legs. A MK 5 turret was tracking them; the tri-barreled death machine ready to kill them if they proved hostile.

The moon's gleams of light were in full force as they approached the flat expanse of sand and dirt that separated them from Stinky and the super mutants. Shoulders and Big Mouth brought up the rear of the group, while Longshot started to separate. The set of hills that started to the east would give him a good vantage point. Stalking closer to it, Longshot looked back to keep an eye on the group. Shoulders and Big Mouth were keeping twenty feet back from Flash and Stinky had met up with them, his hands slightly bleeding for some reason. In his hands was a R91 assault rifle.

Finally making it to the top of the hill, he saw the super mutants. Seven of them, three of them big and ugly, the brutes of the group. Metal helmets and metal plates adorned their bodies, and each of them carried a rifle of some kind. Two of them were the regular kind, the dumbest of the dumb. They were the smallest as well, barely topping eight feet. One of them had a hunting rifle, in bad shape, while the other had a sledgehammer in his big meaty yellow hands. Finally, one of them was a Master variant. _Fuck._ This ugly motherfucker topped nine feet and had on a aviator hat and a Super Sledge. Whatever these guys were, they were packing. Positioning his hunting rifle he stared through the crosshairs and looked at the Overlord.

The huge figure topped twelve feet, wielded a Gatling Laser with one hand as if it was a pistol. The energy pack was in rather good condition and fit comfortably around the thing's back. The fucker was absolutely _ugly_ and he was grunting by the way his mouth moved. Longshot wanted to put a bullet in his face, but the thing was practically bulletproof to the .32 rounds his hunting rifle shot out. Groaning in disappointment, he huddled behind a rock. Looking back at the group, he saw Shoulders and Big Mouth stopped for some reason. Shoulders head was looking up.

The hulking figure stared upward.

 _What is that?_ Longshot looked upward and saw something resembled a shooting star. Bright, flashy, and heading straight for them.

 _Fuck._

* * *

The pilot knew she had made a mistake. The ship was starting to burn in lower atmosphere. The engineering crew was dead or incapacitated, the security officers were being beaten back to the bridge, and half of the bridge crew was dead as well. The lower decks were starting to leak and the sealing wasn't working. _By the Goddess, we can't let these pirates get their hands on this!_

It had been all good and all. Discovering a mass relay, getting official recognition and going with a pair of frigates for defense. The Matriarchs had given them total autonomy in pursuing their goals of opening up this new solar system. Ice had been broken and the what not and the three ships had started to explore it. A medium sized sun was in place, still going strong. At least eight planets (the one near the mass relay was considered too small to be a planet and she felt bad for it for some reason) and they had scanned each of them. The biggest one was a place of storms and a giant red eye, while the rings around the second biggest one were the most fun to go through.

But it was the third planet that received their attention the most. When they had scanned it from afar, they had discovered water on the planet. Excited, Captain Mari had decided to move from the asteroid belt towards the planet in order to send a team down and conduct a full scan. That's when the pirates used a warp jump from Saturn's rings and ambushed them.

It was brilliant, the asari begrudgingly admitted. The three pirate ships had swooped in and, with a flurry of torpedoes, obliterated the frigates guarding them. They then blasted the engines and boarded the ship. Whoever these guys were, they were professionals. Swooping in and boarding wasn't just something any run of the mill pirate could do.

" _Mam! We are burning, our kinetic barriers are down, the hull is tearing apart, and half of our men are dead!"_ the executive officer screamed. Captain Mari was busy, giving orders and buckling in.

" _To all hands, prepare for impact! To all hands, brace for impact!"_ Captain Mari ordered. She then added one last tidbit.

" _Pray to the Goddess we survive. And hope that we don't meet a fate worse than death."_

The pilot took those words to heart.

* * *

Paladin Bael had been doing this for over two decades. Standing outside of the Citadel, armed with a minigun, with two sentry bots waiting for people to come just so he could turn them away. With Sarah Lyons with the bulk of the Brotherhood of Steel in pursuit of some enemy up north, he was stuck watching the Citadel and the kid. Well, the kid was watching him. The boy was old enough where he was in command of the fortress. _Well...hell the boy's practically a Paladin now._

It was tough. With only about twenty Paladins and Knights to garrison the Citadel, along with over forty something initiates to train, the Paladin had locked his armor and was dozing. It was something he had learned to do; lightly sleeping because of the ridiculousness he had to go through. Just today, some random citizen from Arefu tried to convince him that vampires were real, some person from the Children of Atom claimed that they needed to heal them with Atom's glow, and of course, the bullshit from Rivet City.

So imagine his surprise when his motion detector registered a massive blip on his HUD. _What in Maxson's name?_ He looked up, only to see a fiery collusion of fireballs spreading across the wasteland. It was literally something falling from the sky. Several contrails followed it, the different areas of whatever was, spreading across the Capital Wasteland. The biggest part, however, was heading near Big Town. The settlement was doing rather well compared to the other new ones sprouting up, though rumors of disappearances was widespread.

The fiery trails traveled all across, some parts slicing into Downtown. Others traveled south towards Rivet City and the Memorial, but most of the parts were concentrating on Big Town. The night's sky was emblazoned with the contrails, the moon bathing the spreading parts across the land. It was a rather beautiful sight, watching the falling masses and looked like a comet was shooting across the sky. Bael activated his radio, setting the channel to Maxson's. He would want to hear about it.

" _Er..._ Knight-Captain Maxson, this is Paladin Bael. Do you see what I'm seeing?" he asked through his radio. Static met before the voice of a young man filtered through.

"Yes I do Paladin. I'm sending a team over there. Tell Knight-Sergeant Fernando and Knight Willow to get their team ready. They're going up there," the officer said. _Well...he doesn't lack for confidence. And Fernando and Willow are among our finest Knights. "_ And Paladin. Gear up as well. You're leading them. I think you could use some exercise Paladin. Head to the courtyard."

And the link went dead.

 _Of course. Wait...what? I'm heading there? Two decades of this and I'm heading to Big Town? And what does he mean by exercise?!_

Bael instinctively looked at his stomach. Well, he would, if he wasn't encased in armor. Sighing and deciding to let it go, Bael activated his radio again. The channel was set to the other gate guard, a Knight by the name of Sanchez.

"Knight Sanchez, get your ass to the front door. You're guarding the entrance till I get back."

* * *

 **So obviously I messed around with canon. Fallout 4 has no bearing on this story. We'll be getting into more backstory next chapter. For now, setting it up.**

 **This is not going to be some Humanity Sue. This is, hopefully, going to be different from most Mass Effect crossovers. We'll see. But please, review and tell what you think.**


	2. Firefight at Sunset

_"For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me_."

-Psalm 18:39 Holy Bible

The plan went to shit as soon as ball of fire came from the sky.

 _Longshot_ was centered on the Overlord when the first bit of whatever was falling from the sky smashed into the ground. A shock immediately went through the entire group as one of the brutes staggered. The debris from whatever hit the ground spread throughout the group, some of it hitting the mutants and others crashing into the open fields. A piece of metal smacked one of the brutes upside the head, causing him to stumble.

With that he accidentally let out a burst from his assault rifle, a trio of bullets crashing into the Overlord's back. The massive hulk of green and yellow stumbled when the impact of the bullets hit, and he glared at the brute who did it. The brute _gulped_ visibly when the Overlord turned. The gatling laser started to turn and spool and the first red lasers sliced into the brute, separating his knee from his leg and causing him to fall to the ground. Laughing, the gatling laser continued to fire, turning the brute into nothing but dust. Longshot himself looked away, not wanting to see the ashes of the brute fall into a clump on the ground.

The mutant laughed, a deep rumble which sounded like an earthquake. Then the overlord looked up. So did the other mutants and the men from Big Town.

A massive chassis was falling from the sky, heading straight towards Germantown. The old headquarters of the mutants now served as an abandoned shelter, though the mutants did hole up there from time to time. Flames, colored red and orange, encircled the object, fiery contrails of white following it. Longshot could see other pieces of...whatever it was, fall from the sky as well, heading to different directions. But they were much smaller than the gigantic object which...well with Longshot's unscientific mind, seemed to be from the same damn thing. _What in God's name is that?_ Longshot crossed himself, something he had seen some church person do when he visited Rivet City once.

The object _slammed_ into the Germantown police headquarters, exploding with all its might. The explosion was massive, spreading throughout and had a diameter of at least a thousand feet. But whatever it was was still intact, as Longshot could see it through his crosshairs. It was curved, a smooth metal, and was at least a hundred or so meters. Whatever it was, it was not of this world. _Great. Just fucking great. Big Town's got people disappearing, we got fucking super mutants, and now this. Aliens. Gotta be fucking aliens. If it isn't then I'm going to put a bullet in my head and end this craziness._

 _"What the fuck is that?"_ Big Mouth opened up his mouth. The Overlord went from staring at the wreck to looking straight at Big Mouth. Resisting the urge to smack his forehead with his palm, Longshot lined up his crosshairs with a regular super mutant. Stinky and Shoulders were already behind rocks, while Big Mouth was in the middle of scrambling towards cover. Flash as well was running and slid straight, right next to Shoulders. That was when the super mutants opened fire.

"Get behind cover dumbass and kill those bastards!" Flash ordered and Big Mouth continued to run faster and faster before _diving_ straight into cover, a large rock which would shield him from most shots and lasers.

Longshot opened up, his crosshairs straight on the super mutant's neck. This guy, unlike the Overlord, didn't have skin thick enough to shrug off bullets. The .32 caliber round entered and exited, simply carving its way into the throat. The super mutant immediately clenched his throat with his hand, trying to stave the bleeding, when Longshot worked the bolt and fired again, this time the bullet entering the cranium. The super mutant's blood stained the ground as he crashed face first into said ground, and the mutant died a gruesome death.

The first bursts from Big Mouth impacted right on a brute, sparks emitting from where they hit the metal plates. Two of them penetrated the plates and splattered blood, but the mutant stayed upright, firing his own assault rifle. Longshot shifted his focus from a regular mutant to the brute, lining up with the neck and firing. Just like the regular, the brute didn't have thick enough skin to keep out the .32 round from ripping into the throat and exiting out the back, leaving a big exit wound. Tracers and bullets, along with a longs stream of red dotted the battlefield, reaching out and attempting to kill each other.

" _Shoulders!_ You need to get as close to them as you can and use that shotgun of yours!" he heard Flash yell over all of the chaos. The massive human, almost as big as a super mutant himself surged forward, leaping from rock to rock. Longshot continued to fire, but now the Overlord was concentrating on him, its Gatling Laser unleashing its furor on him.

" _Stupid human! You die now!"_ it roared and cackled, the lasers continuing to fall upon his hill. Longshot gritted his teeth as the red searing lasers passed over him. He couldn't concentrate on killing them and had to wait it out. The crackling assault rifles told him that the regular mutants with the hunting rifles were all now dead or wounded, which left the Master and the Overlord, along with at least a couple more brutes. _When is this bastard going to run out?_ As luck would have it, right now. The last laser passed over his head, allowing him a respite. He glanced over the battlefield again and saw that at both the regular super mutants were dead and the majority of the brutes were as well. Stinky, Flash, and Big Mouth were shooting their rifles and pinning down the Overlord while the Master was moving... _straight for him._

 _What the hell._ The Master was over a hundred yards away, but it was gaining ground _fast_. The veins in its neck were bulging red, the Super Sledge hefted over its head, and the damn bastard was running faster than any average human could. Longshot stood his ground and raised his rifle. He fired once, hitting the Master in the chest but doing nothing but irritating it. He fired again, this time striking the left arm, but nothing came of it. He pulled the trigger...and _click._

" _Oh_ fuck me," he muttered as he started to backpedal, his hands working to slam another magazine in. The Master was only forty yards away and was quickly onto him. He slammed the magazine in and pulled the bolt, chambering another round in. He pulled the trigger and a bullet cracked, the .32 caliber sent forward by a combination of gunpowder and physics, escaping the rifled groove of the barrel, and slamming straight into the monster's forehead. The Master staggered, but it did not stop. It only paused to wipe the blood from off its brow and flicked it, the red oozing onto the ground. The Master continued to sprint forward and finally, it was upon Longshot.

The Super Sledge came crashing down, hitting the dirt where Longshot was. The marksman immediately rolled to the left, before another strike almost took his head off. He dropped his rifle. _Shit. Shit. Shit._ The Master continued to swing wildly, but luckily for Longshot, he couldn't aim them properly. Longshot cursed himself for only bringing his rifle and deftly continued to defy the Master.

"You die now human!" the Master yelled. Longshot was ready for his death when he tripped over a rock, and fell down, avoiding another swing of the hammer. That was when he heard the roar of a shotgun and Shoulders appeared, his _Terribly Terrible_ shotgun pumping rounds straight into the Master. Buckshot tore through the Master's toughed hide, the flashes from the muzzle illuminating in the night. The Master yelled in pain, sweet sweet pain, and Shoulders fired one last time, this time straight into the Master's face. The 12 gauge shell slammed into his face, tore off part of his jaw, and exited out of the back of the his cranium, blowing his head apart and killing the damn thing for good.

"You good Longshot?" Shoulders asked, his hand outstretched. In the background, the assault rifle fire and the Gatling Laser could still be heard, and the _boom_ of a Chinese assault rifle mixed it in as well.

"Holy shit. Yeah, I'm good," Longshot replied, taking Shoulders hand and being pulled up. The shotgun toting giant had just saved his ass. He was grateful as can be. He retrieved his rifle and slung it over his shoulder.

"Alright good. Flash and Stinky are keeping the damn Overlord busy, while Big Mouth is skirting around to flank, last time I saw. We're going to do what we do best. I'm going to get as close as I can, dunk as many shells as I can into the bastard, and then get out of there. You do what you best," he said and the marksman grinned. Longshot scrambled to get to a good shooting spot while Shoulders sprinted forward, his shotgun ready to deal death.

As Longshot climbed his hill again, after being chased off it, he saw the Overlord, bleeding from several bullets lodged in his skin. But the damn thing as laughing as he continued to fire his Gatling Laser, streams of red falling on rocks and outcrops, while Flash, Stinky, and Big Mouth returned with a hail of fire. It was not working. The Overlord was just _absorbing_ each bullet the group threw at him.

A sonic boom was heard.

And that's when the Overlord's brain exploded in a shower of blood and gore. The massive beast thumped to the ground, his head messing. The Gatling Laser stopped firing and the monster was dead. Longshot could only say one thing.

" _What the fuck?!"_

* * *

The pilot groaned in pain. Flight Officer Ria from the planet of Thessia, and one of the finest pilots in the Republics, didn't feel good. And why should she? The entire damn ship was in pieces.

It was her damn fault. She should have seen the ambush coming, she should haven't tried to pull off a damn Matriarch maneuver against a superior force like that. Now three pirate ships had shot them down over some backwater planet which had water.

She shouldn't have signed up. When the exploration fleet of the Republics had been reactivated after the Council had decided to expand, considering they didn't want to risk a war with the Terminus Systems. Not yet. It was all done in order to gain a material and numerical superiority in case of a war. Relay 314 had been the first relay opened, allowing the Hierarchy to settle in the planets there, while the Republics started to expand into the areas near the Attican Traverse.

When an exploration team had discovered the mass relay that lead to this system and Captain Mari, who had been the first asari to open a relay in nearly a thousand years, had been chosen to lead it. She needed a pilot and by the Goddess, Ria had signed up. The pilot had been down on her luck ever since a failed expedition to Omega, where her good friend had betrayed her and left her penniless. Drinking at a shitty bar in the Citadel for the rest of her life didn't seem like fun so she signed up.

She looked around her, unbuckling herself from her seat. She fell, searing pain coming from her leg. She glanced down to see a piece of the ship lodged in her upper leg, piercing her uniform. She activated her omni-tool, trying to get a sense of her surroundings. _Where in the Goddess am I?_ It seemed as if the pilot's seat had detached from the rest of the ship and crashed somewhere farther away. The interior of her cockpit could be detached from the rest of the ship and protected by kinetic barriers if she had been separated from the ship in any way. She scanned herself with her omni-tool, her health appearing. Her heart rate was coming down from 180 beats per minute to 120, which was better, while it seemed that she had broken her leg in three places.

She glanced around, looking for any medical aid. She wasn't a medic by any stretch of the imagination, but she knew she had to get the metal out as soon as possible. But she couldn't do it without somebody helping her. Otherwise she would bleed to death and she didn't want to die. She was only a hundred and thirty damn it! The pilot mulled her options. She could try and activate a distress beacon and hopefully get some friendly forces to come and retrieve her. On the other hand, she could lead the pirates, whoever they were, near her.

 _Death or capture. Die alone or be captured by people I don't know._ Was she going to risk death in order to keep her pride or was she going to risk capture by letting go of it? Her mother had always said she was too prideful and she took that as a compliment. Now she knew what kind of dangers her prideful nature would get her in. Death was preferable, for no one of the L'San family had ever been captured. But capture, too was looking more preferable. Staying alive seemed like the best thing to do. She gulped. _I have made my decision._

She activated her transponder and a distress beacon.

" _This is Ria L'San of the Glorious Ascension. My ship has crashed and I am alone. I am wounded. Please...anybody...help me,"_ she whimpered the last part. The signal was activated.

Now all she could do was wait.

* * *

Lancer-Sergeant Zaid of the Brotherhood of Steel noted that this day could be going better.

First, there was the problem with his girlfriend, who was threatening to break up with him. Never mind the fact that she was discovering details of his past life as an Enclave pilot before he had defected to the Brotherhood of Steel, but the problem of a child that may or may not be his. Years ago Zaid had slept with a girl from Arefu during a raid which lead to the establishment of an outpost there and now there was the possibility of a kid which could throw in a wrench in his plans to...well marry her.

Second, there was the problem that Super Mutants were popping back up every slowly and some were carrying weapons capable of downing his aircraft. Zaid had some close calls with his aircraft and the pilot loved the bird like it was his own child. _Claymore_ he had named her, after a sword from Scotland (not that anyone knew what a claymore was anyway).

Third, was the problem of aliens. Ever since the Lone Wanderer disappeared and traveled west after hearing about a possibility of finding family there (a bunch of bullshit Zaid thought, especially after hearing the arguments between the Elder and the Lone Wanderer about the future of the Brotherhood.) But now, he was told by Paladin Bael that whatever was falling through the sky was too... _metallic_ to be a comet. _For fuck's sake can I not be involved with aliens?_ Now his aircraft was heading north towards a signal twenty miles north of the main crash site.

"So why the hell are we not heading towards the main crash site?" Knight-Sergeant Fernando asked. The laser rifle toting power armored Knight was sitting in one of the seats behind him.

"Because the team from Arefu is already heading down there. They're closer and will be in contact with Big Town. We're more mobile and it is easier to get to the signal," Paladin Bael answered. The gate guard was enjoying the ride, Zaid could tell. Whatever awaited them at the crash site...Zaid was going to be drinking when they got back to the Citadel.

* * *

The pirate ship was a former cruiser, stolen from the Hegemony. _The Fires of Kharsan_ was her name. Captain Balal looked at the map of the world. _A pity. A world with nuclear winter and radiation. Another krogan failure._ The former Special Intervention Unit agent sighed as he spun the world map around. The ambush had gone off without a hitch. The pilot of the research vessel had been located via her distress beacon. Dispatching a team there in the pods in order to secure the site until he could get a base set up on that wretched world.

He had his orders. _The captain and the pilot. Their research on this world. Along with the scientists._

He sat in his chair and awaited the results of his orders.

* * *

In a desert nearly three thousand miles away, a single being clawed his way out from the wreckage of his escape pod. The turian wasn't happy. Not at all.

"Figures. Be in C-Sec my father said. Or become a Spectre. Excitement, the Councilor said. Do good for your people, he said. You don't have to worry about drowning he said. Should have listened to the old man."

* * *

 **Thanks for all the support! Next chapter is Brotherhood of Steel focused.**


	3. Rescue (Sort Of)

"Paladin Bael, we're two mikes out from the signal. Initiate Clarke will man the mounted minigun. The rest of you will jump out and secure the site. Is that understood?" Zaid said, not leaving room for discussion.

"You heard the Lancer-Sergeant! Clarke, man the gun and make sure we don't die. Willow, Fernando, and myself will secure the site. Chan, you'll set up on over watch and make sure we covered. Is that understood?" Bael repeated, making Zaid roll his eyes. Zaid pushed the Vertibird to over three hundred miles an hour, the propellers whining. His HUD was switched to thermal, bathing the wasteland in green and hazy colors. He readied his own forward guns, two machine-guns that fired 7.62mm rounds.

His navigation officer was Lancer-Initiate Wilks. The kid was only nineteen but was sharp as a whistle. Originally from some shit town in the DC ruins, he had been raised by his Aunt in Rivet City, before being recruited by the Brotherhood of Steel to become a pilot. He was under Zaid's tutorship and was proving to be a quick learner.

"Alright Wilks, take control of the forward guns and keep an eye on the ground. Clarke, make sure you don't get thrown out! Bael! We're approaching the drop zone! Get ready to drop!" Zaid said through his radio.

* * *

Bael was ready. It had been quite some time since he had seen combat. And by quite some time, it had been two days since he had seen combat. A super mutant patrol had stumbled upon the Citadel after going through the ruins of DC. His minigun had killed five of them while the sentry bots had killed the rest. Didn't even need the snipers on the crow's nest.

The Vertibird swooped in even lower, traveling faster. The damn thing was coming upon the crash site. Smoke and fire was seen drifting upwards. Twisted metal was seen. And the signal, which had been discovered through the radio for some reason, was stronger than ever. Seeing it through his HUD, he was readied himself for the drop. His T-45d power armor would take the brunt of him dropping from the aircraft.

" _Jump now!"_ Zaid shouted and Bael's power armor jumped into action. The servos powered him through as he sailed through the air and he then started to plummet. Bael had done this once. He landed, the power armor creating a shockwave of a sorts and sending dirt and rubble upwards. The wave of dirt fell upon his dirty grey armor and he readied his minigun. Willow landed next to him, her super sledge ready for action. Fernando landed forty feet to the east of him, his laser rifle coming up to survey the crash site.

The Vertibird swung east, the blades slicing through the night air as the power armored figure of Chan and his gauss rifle fell through the air and he took position on a hill overlooking the crash site.

"Spread out and search the crash site," Bael ordered. Willow went forward, placing her super sledge on her back, the magnetic stripes on both the armor and the weapon locking on in order to secure it. She drew her laser pistol and started to scan the site. And that's when the shooting started.

* * *

Flight Officer Ria panicked. She had her pistol near her, the firearm her mother had forced her to purchase just in case _this_ ever happened. But when she heard batarians and vorcha starting to talk in their babbles, she knew she was in trouble. She crawled, forcing herself to be quiet as the batarians started to qualm through the ruins of her once pristine research vessel.

Her pistol was a M-3 Predator, a heavy pistol created by Elanus Risk Control Services, a turian private security company which manufactured weapons. Her father had been a turian, a legionnaire who had been in service during the Krogan Rebellions. Long dead, Ria had inherited a series of rifles that had belonged to him. Now she was starting to regret not bringing them with her. She hugged closed to the ground as she crawled towards the outskirts of her own crash site.

Her motion sensor picked up an aircraft. It was moving quickly, clocking at over three hundred miles an hour. Then three figures dropped out of the aircraft and landed a hundred meters away. Another dropped over two hundred meters away and the aircraft went north before turning east. It flew over again, the whine of a propeller driven aircraft that hadn't been heard in the galaxy for thousands of years.

And that's when the shooting started.

Two batarians right next to her went down as they tried to fire at something, cut down by a hail of projectiles. Their kinetic barriers took the brunt of it, only for them to be broken. Their armor didn't hold either and they were dead within seconds. A vorcha tried to run forward, his rifle firing mass accelerator rounds. They impacted upon an armored figure, but they couldn't punch through. He was cut down as well in a storm of bullets.

"What the hell? Shit, B'al and his team are down! Someone tell the krogan to get forward and take care of these assholes!" she heard a batarian yell. Two batarians came forward, taking cover behind what used to be her cockpit. Three vorcha took cover behind a fallen twisted beam, while a krogan cradling a warhammer walked with confidence towards whatever was shooting them.

And then, out of the smoke and flames, came a figure. Its armor was bulky and metal, with shoulder guards that jutted outward. A helmet with narrow slits for eyes and a sort of filter connected with the main armor. The armor was gray and weirdly angular. But what the armored figure carried was a hammer of its own. The krogan, encased in red armor and wielding his hammer, laughed.

He rushed forward slamming his hammer upon the armored figure. But whoever was in that armor ducked underneath, much quicker than she had expected. The armored figure pushed the krogan, staggering the massive beast. It then kneed it in the face, breaking the krogan's nose and making him roar. The krogan then became very angry. _Bloodlust. Be careful!_

The krogan suddenly grabbed the armored figure and lifted it upwards. However, the figure punched it straight in the face, breaking several teeth and causing krogan blood to pour out. It then slammed its elbow straight into the shoulder, possibly breaking the doubly reinforced bone and made the krogan shout out in pain. A second strike towards the collarbone shocked the krogan who lifted up it even further up and roared.

"Damn you! I will end you and feed you to a thresher maw!" the krogan shouted with fury. The armored figure responded by headbutting the krogan. The pain, it seemed, was enough for him to let go of it. The figure grabbed its hammer and smashed the krogan in the face with it. The results were terrifying. Teeth and blood exploded when the hammer made contact and a second swing connected with the krogan's face. The krogan's head essentially disappeared as a shower of blood and gore bathed the armor of hammer wielding figure. The krogan slumped to the ground, dead as can be.

A batarian rushed forward, yelling for others to fire on the person who killed the krogan. He was put down as a sonic boom was heard and his body was sent catapulting several feet. Another batarian fired, his rifle scattering rounds everywhere, but the armor held. And then something that she never expected happened.

Energy weapons were experimental in the Citadel Alliance. Laser point defense weapons made up the primary anti-fighter weapons on warships but that was it. All attempts to make handheld laser weapons had ended in failure. They simply didn't have the technology to replicate a laser or power it for infantry. There was reason that the GARDIAN system required heat sinks, in order not the flood the warships with radiation and heat from the lasers.

So she was amazed when a laser beam erupted and impacted upon the batarian. The batarian screamed as the laser's energy washed over him and violated his kinetic barriers and literally _turned him into ash._ These aliens had weapons that fired lasers. And they weren't on a warship but in a _handheld_ weapon. _Lasers. Fucking lasers. What the fuck is happening!?_

More lasers slashed and diced into the batarians, killing them almost instantly. The hail of bullets arrived, striking down charging vorcha and forcing more batarians into cover. A sonic boom echoed and another batarian was sent backwards, his head missing. The batarians and the vorcha still alive were scrambling for anything that could called cover. The scattering of dozens of bullets ended as the stream was stopped and the scuffling of metal was heard.

The aircraft darted over and a blaze of fire was emitted. Hundreds of bullets streamed overhead rattling against steel, kinetic barriers, and fire. The batarians managed to stay behind cover well enough to have the few bullets bounce off their kinetic barriers, while the vorcha managed to survive, though one of them as killed by the flyover. The screaming vorcha fell backwards, his head missing.

" _Fucking hell! Will one of you bastards take out that asshole?!"_

* * *

Knight Chan had been born in the Brotherhood of Steel. Born and forged in steel. His father had been a Paladin who had died in defense of the bunker at Lost Hills. His mother who had been killed when the bunker in Mojave was blown up. He had been born with a hatred of the NCR because of their _role_ in the death of his parents. His gauss rifle had been handed down by generations of Paladins in his family.

He looked through the scope, inserting another 2mm cell into the rifle, and zooming into another alien. _Fucking aliens._ He had seen his fellow Knight, Willow, beat the living shit out of a toad looking one, one that was strong enough to take someone in power armor. She had taken the heads off of at least three aliens, one with four eyes, with the super sledge, another that looked like a mini-version of a Deathclaw with weapons and no horns, along with no death hands. She was a walking tank, walking up towards another four eye alien.

And then he noticed something. Two aliens, large and looking like the one she had beat to death, were advancing on her. In one of their hands was a massive weapon that didn't look very friendly and the other had a standard rifle it seemed.

" _Willow, you have two aliens that look like the one you beat to death coming towards your six. I'm covering,"_ Chan said into his radio.

 _"Thank you Chan,"_ she said sweetly, before turning with her super sledge.

He locked onto the alien and fired, the gauss rifle creating a sonic boom and shockwave, sending the 2mm projectile at the toad alien. Looking through his scope, the 2mm hit with tremendous force, flinging the alien backwards and making him crash into the ground. The alien, however, managed to absorb it and got back up, though the... _where they barriers?..._ were broken. He expertly ejected the 2mm cell and slammed another one in. He fired again, this time aiming for the head. The alien's head simply _exploded_ into a shower of blood and gore.

Willow charged the next one, barreling straight into the alien. The alien took the charge and punched Willow, only for Willow to counter with a leg sweep. The alien fell backwards, rolling over to dodge the super sledge heading straight for his head. The alien then got back to his feet and drew his weapon. The weapon discharged, forcing Willow back. The weapon discharged again, this time striking Willow in the arm.

 _"Willow, get into cover!"_ he said curtly. He brought the gauss rifle to bear on the alien and he fired, the distinct sound of the sonic boom and the shockwave that followed. The 2mm round broke through the leg armor of the alien, pieces of it falling to the ground. Slapping another cell into the gauss rifle, he fired again, this time striking the alien in the chest piece. The chest piece collapsed inwards, though the alien kept up. He charged forward, firing the massive weapon in its hands, and Willow was flung back with the force of the blast. He couldn't see what was happening, but by God, it seemed that Willow wasn't going to be getting up soon.

 _Shit!_

He aimed once more, his crosshairs straight on the head of the alien who was preparing to give Willow the final blow. He pressed the trigger and the gauss rifle kicked into his shoulder, the 2mm projectile slamming straight into the toad's head. Their shields weren't able to recharge as the alien's head imploded from the shot. He sighed as he saw that the rest of the aliens were retreating before them.

He then placed his gauss rifle on his back and ran down the hill towards the crash site and towards Willow. But he took a moment to appreciate the matter that they won against _fucking aliens._

 _We won. Fuck yeah!_

Humanity, still shitty and still in danger of extinction one, alien bastards zero.

And that was when he heard something that was definitely not English.

* * *

 **AN: Story is not dead you guys! I have more content coming your way, though it will not be in this story just yet.**


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